ENABLE DAILY BULLETIN FROM THE CONFERENCE
Sixth session of the Conference of States Parties to the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP6)
17-19 July 2013, UN Headquarters, New York
(Webcast and coverage at: http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1606)
18 July, Round Table 2 and Informal Session
TODAY’S SUMMARY: Thursday, 18 July
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Round Table 2: Disability inclusive development in national, regional and international
H.E. Mr. Ron Prosor, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations opened this
morning’s session by announcing the continuation of the General Debate. Representatives from
Egypt, Iraq, Guinea, Jordan, Mexico, Jamaica and Bulgaria highlighted the efforts of their
governments to implement the Convention
Mr. Prosor and Co-chair, H.E Carlos Enrique García González, Permanent Representative of El
Salvador to the United Nations called Round Table 2 to order. The panelists were: Mr. PerAnders Sunesson, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Sweden; Mr. Stefan Culik, Ministry,
Labour and Social Affairs, Czech Republic; Mr. Antonio Jose Ferreira, National Secretary for the
Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Brazil; Ms. Diana Alarcon, UN DESA; Mr.
Setareki Macanawai, Pacific Disability Forum; and Ms. Anika Rahman Lipy, Centre for
Disability in Development (CDD).
Mr. Sunesson highlighted a number of Sweden’s initiatives to align the CRPD with state law.
Best practices identified included the formulation of concrete and measurable goals. Recognizing
disability as a crosscutting issue, Sweden had developed a strategy to augment participation of
persons with disabilities in nine areas, including education, health, and employment.
Mr. Culik outlined national plans adopted by the Czech Republic since the year 2000 with a
focus on improving the situation of persons with disabilities. Government boards for persons
with disabilities had been established to deliver recommendations to the government, and to
monitor and evaluate fulfilment of the plans.
Mr. Ferreira focused his presentation on Brazil’s “Living without Limits Plan”, for rights of
persons with disabilities. Drafted with participation of civil society, the plan is divided into a
number of stages including: access to education and transportation, extension of social benefit
programs, and accessibility and health initiatives.
Ms. Alarcon focused on discussions taking place towards a post-2015 development agenda. She
stressed the importance of retaining core values of the MDGs and noted that issues related to
personal security, governance, rule of law and human rights also needed to be considered. The
future agenda should say more about the means of its implementation, and pay more attention to
issues of persons with disabilities.
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Mr. Macanawai outlined the work of his organization, particularly capacity building initiatives
for DPOs and advocacy activities. He emphasized the need for strong, high-level leadership for
disability-inclusive development, as well as the central role that DPOs should play in this regard.
Mr. Macanawai highlighted the need for resources for disability-inclusive development strategies.
Ms. Lipy spoke about her organization’s role in promoting disability-inclusive development,
including through advocacy, networking, and rehabilitation. A central element of CDD’s work
was capacity-building through training of teachers, government officials, journalists, and persons
with disabilities.
Representatives from WIPO, Kenya, Ghana, Costa Rica, Nigeria and Tunisia all posed questions
or offered comments during the interactive exchange.
3 to 6 p.m.
Informal Panel: Community-based rehabilitation and habilitation for inclusive society
H.E. Mr. Stephan Tafrov, Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the United Nations, opened
the session by announcing the continuation of the general debate. Representatives from Greece,
Russia, Turkey, Costa Rica, Morocco, Peru, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Canada and Bosnia
& Herzegovina highlighted the efforts of their governments to implement the Convention.
Mr. Tafrov, who co-chaired the session together with Mr. Nawaf Kabbara, International
Disability Alliance, called the informal panel to order. The panelists were: H.E Ms. Violeta
Menjivar, Vice Minister of Health, El Salvador; Mr. Chapal Khasnabis, World Health
Organization; Ms. Jean Judes, Beit Issie Shapiro Center, Israel; Ms. Venus Ilegan, Rehabilitation
International; and Mr. Taavi Lai, Ministry of Social Affairs, Estonia.
Ms. Menjivar spoke about El Salvador’s progress in establishing policies and programmes for
persons with disabilities, including those with disabilities as a result of conflict. Communitybased strategies included the work of the “los angelitos” program, which provided training and
exchange of information at community level, and whose staff was specialized under the Ministry
of Health.
Mr. Khasnabis noted that many changes (demographic, social and economic, and changes in
models) have taken place since WHO introduced the concept of CBR. Persons with disabilities
still, however, face higher rates of poverty and exclusion. CBR common strategy targets: 1)
health 2) education 3) livelihood 4) social sectors, including the empowerment of families as the
foundation of CBR.
Ms. Judes outlined the CBR model implemented by the Beit Issie Shapiro Center and its strategy
for social change based on a community-oriented model that transfers knowledge to other NGOs.
Innovative services offered included developing a first early intervention center and first
multisensory room.
Ms. Ilagan outlined how CBR provides access to rehabilitation as a stepping stone to health,
education and other services. She emphasized that persons with disabilities can serve as experts
and identify solutions based on lived experiences. CBR has undergone changes over the years
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and is now a comprehensive rights-based approach, being used to collect data for policy
purposes.
Mr. Lai noted that Estonia had established a national health plan 2010-2020 that emphasized
inclusion of persons with disabilities and is developing a targeted strategy for the inclusion of
persons with disabilities in society. Challenges facing service provision include an aging
population and regional variation in disabilities
Representatives from New Zealand, Ghana, Thailand, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Egypt and South
Africa all posed questions or offered comments during the interactive exchange.
Statements are posted on the CRPD PaperSmart Portal at:
http://papersmart.unmeetings.org/en/treaty/crpd/COSP-CRPD/6th-session/.
TOMORROW’S SCHEDULE: 19 JULY
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Interactive dialogue with the UN system (item 5(e)
Chair: H.E. Mr. Macharia Kamau, President of the Conference, Ambassador and Permanent
Representative of Kenya
Presenters:
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Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
Mr. Charles Radcliffe, Chief, Global Issues (Office of High Commissioner for Human
Rights, OHCHR)
Ms. Margareta Wahlstrom, Special Representative of Secretary General (United Nations
Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNISDR)
Mr. Kazi Afzalur Rahman, Depurty Special Representative (World Tourism Organization,
UNWTO)
Mr. Selim Jahan, Director of Poverty Practice (United Nations Development Programme,
UNDP)
Ms. Aleksandra Posarac, Team Leader Disability and Development (World Bank)
Ms. Rosangela Berman Bieler, Chief of disability unit (United Nations Children’s Fund,
UNICEF)
Ms. Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes (Chair of the CRPD Committee)
Mr. Shuaib Chalklen (UN Special Rapporteur on Disability of Commission for Social
Development)
Summaries of the roundtables
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Roundtable one
Roundtable two
Informal panel
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Other matters (item 6)
Closing of the Conference (item 7)
Side-events
The following side-events will be held tomorrow, 17 July:
The Art of Engagement – An entertaining approach to building awareness (organizer: ABILITY
Awareness; sponsors: ABILITY Magazine, China Press for People with Disabilities, UN Dept of
Public Information
Disabling Poverty/Enabling Citizenship: Income Security Reforms to Advance Inclusion
(organizer: Canadian Association for Community Living; sponsor: Council of Canadians with
Disabilities, Inclusion International, Government of Canada)
Details of side-events (venue, timing) are posted at:
http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1612.
Friday, 19 July, 3 to 6 p.m.
DESA Forum: Dialogue on the Post-2015 Development Framework and Disability
Sponsored by the Governments of Brazil, Kenya and Thailand, and Disabled People's
International (DPI), the Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD), Leonard
Cheshire Disability (LCD), Rehabilitation International (RI) and the World Bank.
http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1611
--CONTACT INFORMATION
Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (SCRPD), Division for
Social Policy and Development (DSPD), United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (DESA), S-2906, New York, NY 10017, USA.
Website: http://www.un.org/disabilities; Email: enable@un.org; Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/United-Nations-Enable/196545623691523; Twitter:
http://twitter.com/UN_Enable.
Note and disclaimer: The Secretariat is grateful to the volunteers from the Institute on
Disability and Public Policy at the American University for their kind assistance in note-taking
and summarizing the proceedings of the Conference, some of which is included in this Bulletin.
Please note that this Bulletin is not for use as an official document, but for general public
information, only. Any errors or omissions are not intentional and corrections should be sent to
the Secretariat at enable@un.org.
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